Phospholipids found in the plasma membrane are comprised of a polar head group, two fatty acids, and a glycerol backbone. The phosphate group carries a negative charge, allowing it to interact with polar aqueous environments. The two fatty acid tails form the hydrophobic region of the bilayer interior. The glycerol backbone forms the structural component for linking the polar and non-polar regions.

Glycogen is a polymer of glucose sugars, and is not found in phospholipids. Triglycerides are composed of three fatty acids and a glycerol backbone.

Membranes are permeable to small, nonpolar molecules like oxygen. Though oxygen is commonly involved in polar bonds, the diatomic molecule has no net dipole, allowing it to cross the membrane. This function is essential for gas exchange, in which oxygen passes from the alveoli of the lungs into adjacent capillaries.

Cholesterol is too large to freely cross the membrane, and requires the assistance of a facilitating protein channel. Glucose is also too large and carries a polar aldehyde or ketone group, preventing it from freely crossing the membrane. Potassium ions are small, but charged. Though they could pass between the lipids of the membrane, they would be repelled by the hydrophobic region in the lipid bilayer interior.

The cell membrane is primarily made of a phospholipid bilayer. The phospholipids consist of a polar phosphate head and two nonpolar lipid tails, oriented so that the tails of each side of the bilayer face one another. Numerous proteins are found in the membrane as well, contributing to the fluid-mosaic model.

Cholesterol molecules are found in the lipid interior of the membrane, between the two layers. Its primary function is to prevent adhesion of the nonpolar tails. By stopping the tails from sticking to one another, the cholesterol helps maintain the fluidity of the membrane.

Glucose, RNA, and ribosomes are not found in the cell membrane.

Cells obtain all of their nutrients across their plasma membranes. To ensure cellular function it is essential to maximize surface area, which corresponds to the amount of plasma membrane. This creates a large area available for diffusion of the necessary nutrients. While it may be more efficient for an organism to produce a few large cells instead of many small cells, the advantage of a large area for diffusion outweighs the cost of energy. Essentially, the surface area is the region of nutrient source and the volume (cytoplasm) is the region of nutrient consumption. For the cell to survive, it must maximize the amount of source nutrients and minimize the amount of nutrient consumption.

The statements that smaller cells are difficult to be detected by predators and require fewer nutrients for survival are both true, but are not the major reasons why cells are microscopic in size.

The plasma membrane is only permeable to small nonpolar molecules. Charged ions, polar solutes, and large solutes can excluded, and require protein mediators to cross the membrane.

Oxygen and carbon dioxide are small molecules with no net dipole; though the bonds themselves may be polar, the symmetry of these molecules causes them to carry no net polarity. Oxygen and carbon dioxide diffuse across the membranes of alveoli in the lungs during reoxygenation. Progesterone is a steroid hormone, indicating that it is a small cholesterol derivative. Steroid hormones are capable of diffusing across the membrane due to their lipophilic nature.

Ions do not undergo simple diffusion. Instead, they are carried across the cell membrane by alternative means, such as active transport. This is essential for maintaining electrochemical gradients, such as the proton gradient in mitochondria and the sodium-potassium gradient in neurons.

The fluid mosaic model is used to explain the fluidity of the plasma membrane. This allows proteins to move along and within the membrane structure and promotes cell motility and flexibility. The fluid mosaic model is based on the idea of the hydrophilic heads facing the exterior of the membrane and hydrophobic tails facing the interior. Transmembrane proteins contain hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions in the same orientation, while peripheral proteins are able to adhere to the membrane exterior. Cholesterol is found within the hydrophobic region of the membrane and promotes fluidity and movement by preventing fatty acid tails from adhering to one another.

If a solution is hypotonic to a cell, then it contains fewer solutes than the cell. If a solution is hypertonic to a cell, then it contains more solutes than the cell.

In a hypertonic environment, the external environment of the cell has a higher concentration of non-penetrating solutes. The solutes are unable to cross the cell membrane to create equilibrium. Instead, water will try to balance the concentrations by moving toward the region of greater solutes. This process of osmosis will cause water to leave the cell, and the cell will shrivel.

The cell membrane is composed of a phospholipid bilayer. Each phospholipid molecule contains two fatty acid tails. Saturated fatty acid tails will be straight, encouraging the molecules to pack together. The unsaturated hydrocarbon tails contain kinks that prevent packing, allowing enhanced membrane fluidity. The other main component of membrane fluidity is cholesterol molecules, which also help to prevent packing in the hydrophobic region of the membrane.

Peripheral membrane proteins are situated outside of the membrane, and do not influence fluidity. Integral membrane proteins span the entire bilayer, but do not impact the overall fluidity.

The cell membrane is a lipid bilayer that is hydrophilic on the outside and hydrophobic on the inside. Proteins are embedded in the membrane to assist in regulating the passage of various compounds into and out of the cell. Only certain molecules can cross the membrane without protein assistance. The cell tightly regulates the production of membrane proteins to maintain the environment of the cell, but cannot do anything to regulate the molecules that cross the membrane without protein assistance.

These molecules that can freely cross the membrane must be both small and nonpolar. Carbon dioxide is small (only three atoms) and is nonpolar due to its linear symmetry. Carbon dioxide is thus able to diffuse across the membrane, and cannot be regulated by membrane proteins.

Sodium and chloride ions are small enough to cross the membrane, but carry a charge than makes it impossible for them to cross the hydrophobic region. Water is also quite small, but is barred from the membrane due to its polarity. Glucose is both large and polar and requires proteins for membrane transport.

The cell membrane is the most permeable to small, nonpolar molecules. Sodium ions (Na⁺) and water (H₂O) are both small, but Na⁺ is charged and H₂O is highly polarized. Both will therefore have a difficult time passing freely through the cell membrane. Water has some ability to cross the membrane, but it generally requires facilitated diffusion. Glucose (C₆H₁₂O₆) is a large, polar molecule, and requires a protein channel in order to cross the membrane. Insulin is a peptide hormone, meaning that it is composed of amino acids. As such, it is both large and polar. Generally, insulin will bind to a receptor on the cell surface in order to elicit an effect; it will rarely cross the membrane at all.

Oxygen (O₂), which is small and nonpolar, can easily diffuse across the membrane. This is essential for loading hemoglobin in the lungs and releasing oxygen in capillaries.